Nerves that aren’t elongating properly appear to be causing pain and other symptoms in at least some people with ME/CFS.

Cort Johnson is very good at keeping the community up to date with the latest research into ME/CFS. His latest post explores the work of Dr Peter Rowe who ‘believes something has gone wrong with the nerves that govern a very basic function – movement’.

The breakthrough for him came when he realized that he was able to produce symptoms of pain, fatigue, brain-fog, light-headedness, nausea, sweating and flushing, vision changes, headache, etc. simply by putting pressure on certain parts of the spinal cord or nerves in the body, arms or legs. Conversely, removing the tension in those areas could ease his patient’s fatigue, cognitive problems, light-headedness, nausea, reflux, sweating, and flushing, many types of vision changes, headache, and other symptoms.

The theory behind it makes a lot of sense from my own experience and the experimental data seem convincing. There are even some treatment recommendations. I know that one of the most useful interventions for me has been gentle osteopathy. I have very restricted range of motion in most joints and a regular trip to the osteopath keeps me as fluid as I can get. But sometimes the process is itself exhausting and liable to make me hurt more. This research helps me understand why some stretching is bad and some good. I’ll be sending my osteopath the link.